Markland Grips Viaduct

Markland Grips Viaduct is a former railway viaduct south east of Clowne, Derbyshire, England. ContextThe viaduct carried the LD& ECR's double-track Langwith Junction to Sheffield Beighton Branch over a limestone gorge known as "Markland Grips". It was situated midway between the former stations of Clowne South and Creswell and Welbeck. Opened in 1896, it consisted of 6 equal stone arches. Timetabled passenger services over the viaduct ended in September 1939, though Summer Weekend excursions from Manchester Central to Yarmouth Vauxhall and from Sheffield Victoria to Skegness continued until 1964. The line's staple diet was not passenger traffic, but freight, and above all - coal. It served as a relief and diversionary route for Sheffield - Lincoln traffic and for Great Central Main Line traffic, but as they declined so did the need for the Beighton Branch. Coal from the branch itself was down to three collieries by the 1960s - Creswell and Langwith at its southern end and Westthorpe (Killamarsh) at its northern end. The north Nottinghamshire "superpits" sent most of their output straight to power stations which were mainly in the Trent valley to the east. By the mid-1960s the Great Central was in terminal decline and the volume of traffic over the Beighton Branch could be accommodated on what is now the Robin Hood Line. Furthermore, the M1 Motorway was being extended northwards and would require an expensive bridge to cross the Beighton Branch. The viaduct itself had required extensive strengthening for some time.

Markland Grips Viaduct is a former railway viaduct south east of Clowne, Derbyshire, England. ContextThe viaduct carried the LD& ECR's double-track Langwith Junction to Sheffield Beighton Branch over a limestone gorge known as "Markland Grips". It was situated midway between the former stations of Clowne South and Creswell and Welbeck. Opened in 1896, it consisted of 6 equal stone arches. Timetabled passenger services over the viaduct ended in September 1939, though Summer Weekend excursions from Manchester Central to Yarmouth Vauxhall and from Sheffield Victoria to Skegness continued until 1964. The line's staple diet was not passenger traffic, but freight, and above all - coal. It served as a relief and diversionary route for Sheffield - Lincoln traffic and for Great Central Main Line traffic, but as they declined so did the need for the Beighton Branch. Coal from the branch itself was down to three collieries by the 1960s - Creswell and Langwith at its southern end and Westthorpe (Killamarsh) at its northern end. The north Nottinghamshire "superpits" sent most of their output straight to power stations which were mainly in the Trent valley to the east. By the mid-1960s the Great Central was in terminal decline and the volume of traffic over the Beighton Branch could be accommodated on what is now the Robin Hood Line. Furthermore, the M1 Motorway was being extended northwards and would require an expensive bridge to cross the Beighton Branch. The viaduct itself had required extensive strengthening for some time.